News Article: Varlamov supposedly to be protected in the Expansion Draft

[Hesher]

Protecting Varly is the right decision but I agree with those who think both will be here next year.

 

[John Eichel da GOAT]

Majority of mock drafts I've seen have one of Grigorenko, Soderberg, or Andrighetto taken which are all fine.

 

[AvsGuy]

Majority of mock drafts I've seen have one of Grigorenko, Soderberg, or Andrighetto taken which are all fine.

 

[Tweaky]

The hate for Picks is surprisingly amusing. You guys realize his numbers this year were better than Varly's, right?

This year, he had just over double the games (and starts) that Varly did. But he won well more than double the games, lost less than double. He gave up less than double the goals, and had better save percentage. Double the shutouts as well.

Yes, he had a crap season. But it was still better than Varly's. Just like last year. And the year before. So the injury excuse is null...Varly has not been injured for 3 years straight. If he has, then that is part of what folks need to factor into his evaluation. Mainly because surgery in not that likely to be a permanent fix...at some point, that groin is going to shred again.

Picks was not good, and he surely part of the reason for the horrible season. But to blindly believe that Varly would have been better, despite the available evidence is asinine. I sincerely hope that next year, Varly proves me wrong...but until then, I will remain skeptical.

That said, protecting Varly is the right move...surgery or no, he is much more likely to be taken over one of our crap forwards due to trade value.

 

[The Kingslayer]

Pickard prolly played this bad on purpose because he wants to remain an Av haha. Nah. Pickard is going to be a back up until he's like 31 or something. I see a lot of Dwayne Roloson in Pickard.

 

[The Kingslayer]

Majority of mock drafts I've seen have one of Grigorenko, Soderberg, or Andrighetto taken which are all fine.

I would not be chill losing ghetto especially if next season is another throw away. Losing Grigs or Soda I'm fine with. I rather it be Blake Como.

 

[UncleRisto]

As it stands I'd have The Ghetto Child protected anyway.

 

[Freudian]

Pickard showed that he can't play as many games as he did this year and still have things to work on, but it's not like Varlamov was a world beater behind this team.

Still, can't risk being stuck with Pickard as a starter with no backup. It will just be the same. Start him for way too many games and pay the price.

 

[CobraAcesS]

They'll protect Varly simply for the optics, and I don't care because Pickard sucks lol.

 

[Rumplesnipeskin]

Makes sense

 

[McMetal]

As far as the source of the story goes, it doesn't seem too far fetched that they've already decided which goalie they protect. It's a binary choice, after all. Why would they have endless meetings about that when most of us agree that it's really the obvious choice? It's the simplest element of the ED. The tricky part is figuring out whether to buy out Beauch to go 7-3-1, and if you do take that route, how do you try to force Vegas to take the guy you want to be rid of instead of the now more-tempting goalie?

 

[PAZ]

The hate for Picks is surprisingly amusing. You guys realize his numbers this year were better than Varly's, right?

This year, he had just over double the games (and starts) that Varly did. But he won well more than double the games, lost less than double. He gave up less than double the goals, and had better save percentage. Double the shutouts as well.

Yes, he had a crap season. But it was still better than Varly's. Just like last year. And the year before. So the injury excuse is null...Varly has not been injured for 3 years straight. If he has, then that is part of what folks need to factor into his evaluation. Mainly because surgery in not that likely to be a permanent fix...at some point, that groin is going to shred again.

Picks was not good, and he surely part of the reason for the horrible season. But to blindly believe that Varly would have been better, despite the available evidence is asinine. I sincerely hope that next year, Varly proves me wrong...but until then, I will remain skeptical.

That said, protecting Varly is the right move...surgery or no, he is much more likely to be taken over one of our crap forwards due to trade value.

I don't think it's hate, I think it's just the truth. We can't go into next season with Pickard as our #1 and he made it a relatively easy decision to protect Varly. Picks still has potential, but he isn't a #1 goalie yet and we'd be in trouble if he was our starter next season when we're not a great team to begin with.

 

[McMetal]

I don't think it's hate, I think it's just the truth. We can't go into next season with Pickard as our #1 and he made it a relatively easy decision to protect Varly. Picks still has potential, but he isn't a #1 goalie yet and we'd be in trouble if he was our starter next season when we're not a great team to begin with.

Agreed. Picks needs to take a step back, work on the holes in his game, and spend another season as a backup, since he didn't get to do that this year. Making him the starter next year would just be compounding the problem. Even if Varley doesn't play lights out, as long as he's healthy this is the right move. Pickard NEEDS to spend a year as a backup before we hand him the reins again.

 

[Tweaky]

I agree there, another year of development and work with a good galie coach will do wonders for Pickard. But Varly, even healthy, has been no better than Picks for the last 3 years. Of course, the year before that he showed why he should be the #1 at least until he is clearly over the hill.

 

[Foppa2118]

I would not be chill losing ghetto especially if next season is another throw away. Losing Grigs or Soda I'm fine with. I rather it be Blake Como.

If they buyout Beauchemin, they can go the 7F 3D route and protect Ghetto, Nieto, and two other forwards.

Sakic alluded to being in a position to make some moves before the draft. They could acquire some assets by taking a couple forwards that need to be protected.

 

[tigervixxxen]

We have plenty of forwards under contract to expose.

 

[Foppa2118]

We have plenty of forwards under contract to expose.

You're correct, I just caught that. I was messing around with the CapGeek calculator for the first time and the interface confused me for a second.

 

[Don Corleone]

Not at all suprised but why? Pickard is a fine backup goalie. Much rather protect him especially since Vegas is not taking Varlamov. Even if they did that might be doing us a favor since Varly is not any better than Pickard and makes 6 mil for playing like crap and on top of that he simply cannot stay healthy. Also, if Pickard is protected then LV has to pick one of our weak forwards or D and that is only a win for us. I see zero upside in protecting Varly.

 

[dahrougem2]

If they buyout Beauchemin, they can go the 7F 3D route and protect Ghetto, Nieto, and two other forwards.

Sakic alluded to being in a position to make some moves before the draft. They could acquire some assets by taking a couple forwards that need to be protected.

Not at all expecting a Beauchemin buy out

 

[The Kingslayer]

Not at all expecting a Beauchemin buy out

True. Christmas is once a year. We aint that lucky.

 

[Foppa2118]

Not at all expecting a Beauchemin buy out

I wasn't either but the more I think about it, the more it makes way too much sense, that they'd be stupid not to.

First they pay $3M over two years with a buyout, instead of $4M over one, so they save $1.5M. That means if they replace him with someone like Bigras in the lineup, they still save $600k+. So the Kroenke's won't object to this financially.

Also, there's no cap hit savings since he was 35+, so the cap hit doesn't extend past next year either. The $4m falls off at the same time as if they keep him.

So it comes down to whether they'd rather keep an aging Beauchemin who's probably not even good enough for a bottom pairing role, just out of respect, and also lose one of Nieto or Andrighetto?

Or do they want to be able to keep both Nieto and Ghetto, trade for two other forwards under contract, and either get cheap prices on good players, or gain assets on top of them from a team that absolutely have to move them.

It really should be a no brainer, but you're right. We'll have to see whether Sakic can make a no brainer decision like that.

 

[CobraAcesS]

I wasn't either but the more I think about it, the more it makes way too much sense, that they'd be stupid not to.

First they pay $3M over two years with a buyout, instead of $4M over one, so they save $1.5M. That means if they replace him with someone like Bigras in the lineup, they still save $600k+. So the Kroenke's won't object to this financially.

Also, there's no cap hit savings since he was 35+, so the cap hit doesn't extend past next year either. The $4m falls off at the same time as if they keep him.

So it comes down to whether they'd rather keep an aging Beauchemin who's probably not even good enough for a bottom pairing role, just out of respect, and also lose one of Nieto or Andrighetto?

Or do they want to be able to keep both Nieto and Ghetto, trade for two other forwards under contract, and either get cheap prices on good players, or gain assets on top of them from a team that absolutely have to move them.

It really should be a no brainer, but you're right. We'll have to see whether Sakic can make a no brainer decision like that.

Hadn't thought about them actually saving 1.5M, especially because when you buy him out on CF it just gives you a 4.5M cap hit for next season. How sure are you about that being split over a couple of years?

 

[Foppa2118]

Hadn't thought about them actually saving 1.5M, especially because when you buy him out on CF it just gives you a 4.5M cap hit for next season. How sure are you about that being split over a couple of years?

I wrote $4M, but I meant $4.5M. It's a $1.5M savings, because buyouts are 2/3 the total cost spread out over twice the remaining length. So they only pay him $3M total ($1.5m twice).

Just like Stuart though, the cap hit is the same $4.5M next year, and then it falls off.

https://www.capfriendly.com/buyout_calculator/francois-beauchemin

 

[CobraAcesS]

I wrote $4M, but I meant $4.5M. It's a $1.5M savings, because buyouts are 2/3 the total cost spread out over twice the remaining length. So they only pay him $3M total ($1.5m twice).

Just like Stuart though, the cap hit is the same $4.5M next year, and then it falls off.

https://www.capfriendly.com/buyout_calculator/francois-beauchemin

Ok I see why it does not reflect like that in the Arm Chair GM thing. That's a bit of a flaw there, but they don't need to reflect real money with that as much.

My argument against them buying him out in the past was the money wasted by owners including back filling the roster spot.

I can totally see them buying him out if it makes sense financially, as well as roster management with the expansion draft.

Hopefully how he was played down the stretch here does not reflect how Sakic actually feels about his on ice play lol.

 

[tigervixxxen]

Dater seems to feel it's possible so I acknowledge that but it does seem pretty unlikely to me they are going to buyout a guy who had the second highest TOI in the last game of the year who wears a letter as well. Maybe expansion is the kick in the butt Sakic needs and if he feels being able to go 7-3 with him gone is worth it but I'd still be pretty surprised.